Us.

Chapter 10: I hope

Braden's P.O.V.

"Braden!" Claire screams. I look to my right and see a red truck slam into the side of my car. Claire's body slams into mine, and the car flips over a full rotation. My head slams into the window, breaking the glass. The car is now standing up right and my head is pounding. I look over at Claire and she is unconscious. Her head is leaning against the window and it's bleeding really bad. My vision goes blurry momentarily and I shake my head. I hear police sirens coming to help us, but I gotta get Claire out of the car. I hear water hitting the concrete, wait, that's not water.

It's gas. It'll blow soon. I unbuckle myself and reach over and try to unbuckle Claire, but it's stuck. I'm pressing the button and pulling up on the belt, and nothing's happening. I start to breathe heavy as I pull on the seatbelt.

"Claire! Please!" I scream at her. She doesn't react at all. I shake her shoulder and I'm about to call her name again when I feel arms wrap around mine and pull me out of the car. They pull me out of the way of the car and I stand up on my own and see three cop cars, two ambulances, and two fire trucks.

"My girlfriend's in there! You have to get her out!" I scream at the police.

"We will do our best, I'm going to have you go see the paramedics." One of the cops says to me.

"No! You have to get her out!" I scream. The cop walks over to the car and immediately runs back.

"It's gonna blow! Everyone watch out!" The cop yells.

"Claire!" I scream running back to the car, but another cop has my arms and pulls me away from the car. The front of the car blows up in a fiery red explosion, that blows my hair. "Claire!" I yell trying to escape the grip of the cop, but I can't. His grip is strong on my upper arms, making sure I don't go anywhere.

"I'm sorry, son. There's nothing we could do." The cop says patting my shoulder.

"Nothing you could do? Why did you grab me? Why didn't you save her?" I yell at them with tears slipping down my cheeks.

"We're sorry." The cops say. Everything inside of me collapses, I fall to my knees. I can't believe she's gone, I did it to her. It's my fault. "We need to get you to the paramedics." The cops say picking me up. I don't object, I don't say anything. I can't say anything, it feels like my vocal chords were ripped out. Claire is the reason I live, and she was just ripped out of my grasp.

Ripped out of my life.

Claire's P.O.V. (During the crash)

The truck slams into the side of the car, and that's it.

***

"It's gonna blow! Everyone watch out!" I hear someone yell, then the car bounces, sending the windshield to my face. I reach my hand up to my head and my hand is now wet, with blood. I look down at my stomach, and there's glass everywhere on me, in me. Smoke floods the car, making it hard to breathe.

"Claire!" I hear Braden scream. I can't hear what someone says but I hear Braden yelling. "Nothing you could do? Why did you grab me? Why didn't you save her?"

He thinks I'm dead, and I'm not. He needs to know. I am breathing in pure smoke, which is burning my throat and lungs. I reach down and try and unbuckle my seatbelt, but it's stuck. I pull with all of my strength, which isn't a lot, and the seatbelt comes out. I open the door, which sends a shooting pain through my entire body, but I get out of the car. Cool oxygen floods my body, and I take a deep breath of it, which sends a pain through my body that there aren't even words for. I can't stand up, I can say that for a fact. I crawl, very slowly, around the car. I see a lot of emergency response vehicles, and Braden in the back of one, with medics attending to him. He won't be able to see me unless I stand up, and I don't think I can make it all the way over there by myself.